I n 2015, the QBI team led by Professor Götz (pictured above) announced one of the most
exciting recent breakthroughs in Alzheimer’s disease research, one that is likely to also have
consequences for concussion.
They discovered that ultrasound – as used to view babies in the womb – can also trigger the
brain's own waste disposal system to clean up deposits of a protein known as beta-amyloid
in the brains of mice with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). These protein deposits are called amyloid
plaques, and along with tau tangles, are a key feature of AD.
The team found that injecting safe microbubbles into the bloodstream and then pulsing the
brain with ultrasound caused the impermeable blood-brain barrier to open temporarily. This
opening is thought to activate microglia, resident garbage collector cells, which clean up waste
products in the brain.
Professor Götz’s team found that the ultrasound method reduced the amount of abnormal
protein and was also linked with improvements in the memory of mice with AD. The challenge
now is to translate such a method to the human brain, but Professor Götz and colleagues in this
field around the world are excited about the potential.
CHAPTER 6. LONG-TERM CONSEQUENCES
just developing ways to see
tau using imaging techniques
such as positron emission
tomography or PET. One
major difficulty with studying
CTE is that the only definitive
way to make a diagnosis is by
autopsy – looking at people’s
brains after they’ve died.
We also don’t know
how many or what type
of concussions it takes for
someone to develop CTE
or how long it takes for the
disorder to appear. Most
importantly, we don’t know
what can be done to prevent
or reverse the damage.
The presence of abnormal
tau tangles does offer a
diagnostic and therapeutic
target, just as it does in
other tauopathies such as
dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Researchers like Professor
Götz are exploring ways
to remove the tau tangles,
while others are focusing on
imaging techniques that can
reveal tau when CTE is still
in its early stages, offering a
greater chance of treatment.
AN ALZHEIMER’S
BREAKTHROUGH
PHOTOGRAPHY NICK VALMAS